Techniques for spatial diversity in satellite communications

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses for communicating in a satellite communication framework with spatial diversity are described. In one embodiment, a method for controlling communication in a satellite communication network having multiple constellations and a satellite terminal with a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating a plurality of beams for communication links with multiple satellites, comprises: determining, under network control, availability of a plurality of networks by which network traffic may be exchanged with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna; and managing, under network control, two or more satellite links between the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or more satellites of different networks to route the network traffic, including determining when to use each of the two or more satellite links, the two or more satellite links being generated using two or more beams from the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna.

PRIORITY

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/498,255, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR SPATIAL DIVERSITY INSATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS”, filed Oct. 11, 2021, which is a continuationof and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.63/090,376, entitled “Techniques for Spatial Diversity in SatelliteCommunications”, filed on Oct. 12, 2020, each of which is incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of satellitecommunications; more particularly, embodiments of the present inventionrelate to satellite antennas that generate multiple, different beams tocommunicate with multiple satellites.

BACKGROUND

A satellite dish must have a line-of-sight (LOS) to the satellite inorder for communication to occur. In other words, to transmit andreceive data in a satellite communication system, the transmit andreceive stations must be in view of each other without any blockingobstacles between them. Because a satellite communication system is aLOS communication system, satellite communication providers must acceptthat communication may be temporarily lost or take steps to ensure thatan alternative communication path is available if the satelliteconnection is temporarily lost due to a loss of LOS due to some suchobstructions. That is, LOS-based communication technologies are severelyimpacted by path blockages due to buildings, foliage, people, cars, etc.With only a single link upon which to rely, user data being transmittedin such communication system is stopped during any of these blockages.This is especially a problem in an urban scenario where blockages arefrequent. In the past, satellite communication providers would includetwo physically distinct satellite communication antennas to provide twosatellite links to be available such that if one was obstructed, theother could be used to continue communication.

More recently, some satellite antennas have multi-beam capability. Forexample, see, U.S. Pat. No. 11,063,661, entitled “Beam Splitting HandOff Systems Architecture,” issued Jul. 13, 2021. Such capabilitiesenable a satellite antenna to have multiple connections with multiplesatellites at the same time.

SUMMARY

Methods and apparatuses for communicating in a satellite communicationframework with spatial diversity are described. In one embodiment, amethod for controlling communication in a satellite communicationnetwork having multiple constellations and a satellite terminal with asingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating aplurality of beams for communication links with multiple satellites,comprises: determining, under network control, availability of aplurality of networks by which network traffic may be exchanged with thesingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna; and managing, undernetwork control, two or more satellite links between the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or more satellites ofdifferent networks to route the network traffic, including determiningwhen to use each of the two or more satellite links, the two or moresatellite links being generated using two or more beams from the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription given below and from the accompanying drawings of variousembodiments of the invention, which, however, should not be taken tolimit the invention to the specific embodiments, but are for explanationand understanding only.

FIG. 1 illustrates an uncoordinated path with balanced independentbeams.

FIG. 2 illustrates an uncoordinated path with weighted independentbeams.

FIG. 3 illustrates a coordinated path with switching of independentbeams.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of some embodiments of a process forcontrolling communication in a satellite communication network havingmultiple constellations and a satellite terminal with a singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating aplurality of beams for communication links with multiple satellites.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of some embodiments of a process forcommunicating network traffic between a single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna and multiple networks using a split beamimplementation.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of some embodiments of a process forcommunicating network traffic between a single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna and multiple networks using beam switching.

FIG. 7 illustrates some embodiments that use a split beam implementationon the downlink (receive) and a beam switching implementation on uplink(transmit).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth to providea more thorough explanation of the present invention. It will beapparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present inventionmay be practiced without these specific details. In other instances,well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form,rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the presentinvention.

Embodiments disclosed herein use multi-beam technology for a satelliteantenna to communication with more than one network. This enables thesatellite antenna to have and use concurrent active links on multiplesatellites. In some embodiments, these antennas are part of satelliteterminals. By leveraging such multi-beam capabilities with the antennasof satellite terminals in some embodiments, such terminals are able toproduce multiple beams simultaneously or with near-instantaneousswitching speeds, thereby enabling a network to route traffic for highreliability connections in mobility scenarios where line-of-sighttechnologies would otherwise be randomly and frequently disrupted bybuildings, people, cars, foliage, etc. The techniques disclosed hereinovercome these deficiencies.

In some embodiments, the satellite terminals use antennas withmulti-beam capabilities that include a metasurface that is amulti-functional and tunable radiating aperture composed of thousands ofsubwavelength radiating elements. In some embodiments, these radiatingantenna elements are individually and dynamically controlled throughsoftware, which enables the metasurface to rapidly adapt radiationcharacteristics required to form a beam, steer the beam direction, andchange its frequency and polarization at the same time. In a dual-beamscenario, the metasurface serves both beams with dual-beam modulationalgorithms. In some embodiments, the satellite terminals use antennasand antenna elements such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,892,553,“Broad Tunable bandwidth Radial Line Slot Antenna,” issued Jan. 12,2021, and/or U.S. Pat. No. 11,063,661, entitled “Beam Splitting Hand OffSystems Architecture,” issued Jul. 13, 2021.

In some embodiments, the multi-beam technology may be used to providethe concurrent active satellite links in either an uncoordinatedscenario or coordinated scenario. These scenarios are described in moredetail below.

In an uncoordinated scenario, a user terminal uses its antenna tomaintain links to two networks independently. In some embodiments, theuser terminal maintains the links to two networks independently througha coordinated effort between a local multi-wide area network (MWAN)router, multi-beam aperture and a processor, such as, but not limitedto, a digital signal processor (DSP). In some embodiments, the DSPperforms a signal excision.

In some embodiments, when providing two concurrent beams, the antennacreates the beams and weights them based on one or more of goals. Insome embodiment, the weighting of beams depends on a cost function.Examples of weighting that are employed in some embodiments includes,but is not limited to, the following:

-   -   In a balanced case, the terminal would try to maximize spectral        efficiency on each;    -   In a strongly biased weighting, the terminal may opt to maximize        spectral efficiency on a primary beam and reduce a secondary        beam (or set of beams) to a level sufficient only to sustain a        connection to the secondary satellite network; and    -   In a mixed case, the terminal may weight the beams based off        performance to maximize throughput or minimize the cost of data        transferred.

FIG. 1 illustrates a satellite communication system topology with anuncoordinated path with balanced independent beams. Referring to FIG. 1, antenna 101 is able to receive and transmit network traffic, orotherwise communicate, with two networks. In some embodiments, antenna101 uses a split beam approach such as described in U.S. Pat. No.11,063,661, entitled “Beam Splitting Hand Off Systems Architecture,”issued Jul. 13, 2021. Using the split beam approach, antenna 101controls each beam independently and each feeds into independent receiveand transmit paths, resulting in a single physical terminal acting astwo independent terminals.

A first network includes hub 110 and communication occurs viaconstellation A 111 using beam 112, while a second network includes hub120 and communication occurs via constellation B 121 using beam 122.Hubs 110 and 120 send and receive the network traffic of antenna 101with SDWAN controller 140. In some embodiments, these communicationpaths provide network access (e.g., Internet access) to a computingsystem employing antenna 101. In some embodiments, antenna 101 is asingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating aplurality of beams for satellite communication links. Note that thetechniques disclosed herein are not limited to having an antenna onlycommunicate with two networks; in alternative embodiments, antenna 101is able to generate beams for communication with more than twosatellites.

In some embodiments, antenna 101 is part of a satellite terminal thatincludes an antenna controller/modem 102. In some embodiments,controller 102 includes modems A and B for use in communicating with hub110 via satellite 111 using beam 112 and communicating with hub 120 viasatellite 121 using beam 122, respectively. Controller 102 also includesa MWAN edge router and a signal excision unit.

When using a split beam approach, in some embodiments, advanced signalprocessing and multi-WAN routing are used to enable multibeam operationacross uncoordinated networks. In some embodiments, the independent dualbeam architectures do require independent RF chains to operate withoutany coordination across the networks. This is consistent with a commonlyreferenced limit that the maximum number of simultaneous data streams isless than or equal to the number of RF chains available on the terminal.

In some embodiments, in the uncoordinated scenario, a MWAN edge routerof controller 102 and SDWAN controller 140 route traffic over each linkaccording to a set of business rules. In the situation in which thebeams generated by antenna 101 are weighted in a strongly biasedweighting manner as described above, the MWAN edge router of controller102 and SDWAN controller 140 work in concert to maintain a networkconnection (keep-alive) on the secondary networks (associated with thesecondary links and beams of antenna 101) for protected failover duringline-of-site (LOS) blockages or other outage events. In someembodiments, the MWAN edge router is used by the user's terminal todivide outgoing traffic according to the business rules that have beenset while SDWAN controller 140 does the same with respect to the userterminal's incoming traffic. In some embodiments, SDWAN controller 140includes the set of functions that determines the business rules, andthe MWAN edge router implements those rules. In some embodiments, SDWANcontroller 140 includes information on both the outgoing and incomingtraffic paths performs coordination between the MWAN edge router fromthat point.

In some embodiments, the signal excision unit of controller 102 reducesthe coordination burden through increased isolation between twoco-channel downlink carriers. More specifically, the signal excisionunit performs signal processing in a manner well-known in the art toisolate two (or more) carriers from one another, primarily for signalquality and/or data integrity purposes (e.g., extract data from multiplesatellite received on the same signals, etc.).

The uncoordinated approaches described above may be improved withadditional integration of the terminal-side modems and virtualization orstandardization on the hubs. FIG. 2 illustrates a satellitecommunication system topology with an uncoordinated path with weightedindependent beams and virtualized hubs/modems.

Referring to FIG. 2 , antenna 201 is able to receive and transmitnetwork traffic, or otherwise communicate, with two networks. A firstnetwork includes virtualized hub (hub) 210 and communication occurs viaconstellation A 211 using beam 212, while a second network includesvirtualized hub (hub) 220 and communication occurs via constellation B221 using beam 222. Hubs 210 and 220 send and receive the networktraffic of antenna 201 with service gateway 250. In some embodiments,these communication paths provide network access (e.g., Internet access)to a computing system employing antenna 201. In some embodiments,antenna 201 is a single electronically steered flat-panel antennacapable of generating a plurality of beams for satellite communicationlinks. Note that the techniques disclosed herein are not limited tohaving an antenna only communicate with two networks; in alternativeembodiments, antenna 201 is able to generate beams for communicationwith more than two satellites.

In some embodiments, antenna 201 is part of a satellite terminal thatincludes an antenna controller/modem 202. In some embodiments,controller 202 includes soft modems for use in communications with hub210 via satellite 211 using beam 212 and communications with hub 220 viasatellite 221 using beam 222, respectively. Controller 202 also includesan edge compute appliance and a signal excision unit.

More specifically, in some embodiments, antenna 201 creates twoindependent beams weighted per the use case. In some embodiments, theuse of software defined (soft) modems of controller 202 increases, andpotentially maximizes, the terminal flexibility to join new networkswhile reducing, and potentially minimizing, the size and weight of theuser terminal. More specifically, the soft modems of controller 202, inaddition to having modulator/demodulators and associatedencoders/decoders, include routing functionality and logic to coordinatewith the hub. In some embodiments, the soft modem is able to expand therouting ruleset and coordination aspect to consider both linksassociated with the two beams. When considering an ATDMA return linkscenario, there is a time plan associated with each link in which eachterminal knows when it can transmit within the next sequence of bursts.In such a case, the soft modem could either coordinate with each hub toapply “keep out timing” on each plan or it could selectively prioritizetraffic on link A over link B due to demand/business rules. In thiscase, that would likely mean opting to not transmit anything on link Bduring the overlapped time slots.

In some embodiments, even though the soft modems of controller 202 joinnew networks, there is no coordination between the networks themselves.In other words, hub 210 and hub 220 do not work together to route thenetwork traffic between antenna 201 and service gateway 250.

Virtualized hubs 210 and 220 increase the access to new constellationsby reducing integration time and increasing the cross-constellationcoordination. In some embodiments, a Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP)coordinator 260 is communicably coupled to virtualized hubs 210 and 220for load balancing. For example, CoMP coordinator 260 load balancesacross the available satellite links for robust failovers and advancednetwork management in a manner well-known in the art.

In some embodiments, the edge compute appliance of controller 202orchestrates virtualized network functions, including network nodefunctions related to, for example, but not limited to, receiving,sending, creating, or storing data, including providing some form ofidentification to receive access, and may include other networkfunctions such as, but not limited to, functions such as load balancing,firewall and, intrusion detection and WAN acceleration.

Fast switching is an alternative multi-beam approach that uses the rapidbeamforming capabilities of the terminal to maintain active links byrepointing from one satellite to another as data is available on each.By pointing a single beam at a time, the antenna negates any gain orco-frequency interference penalties due to forming multiple beamssimultaneously. Therefore, the terminal maintains the maximum signalquality available for each beam during data transmission. Fast switchingis not subject to the same cost and power impacts as discussed in theindependent dual beam scenario as only one beam is used at any time.

In some embodiments, with the combination of fast switching and softmodems/virtualized hubs, the satellite terminal having an antenna withmulti-beam capability complements agile network management to increasequality of service (QoS) and/or one or more network efficiency goals. Insome embodiments, this is accomplished where the antenna coordinatesbeamforming with the modem for physical routing. In some embodiments,this is down to the lowest time block (time slice, subframe, frame,packet, etc.), with each link operating at its maximum spectralefficiency, and single beam-fast switching minimizes user terminal SizeWeight and Power-Cost (SWAP-c).

In some embodiments, the coordinated paths may be combined forrepointing on multiple beams simultaneously. FIG. 3 illustrates acoordinated path with dynamic repointing where only one beam isgenerated by the satellite terminal antenna at a time (indicated bydashed lines) but with fast switching between beams that are used toroute traffic from the satellite terminal antenna and a service gatewayto the Internet or other network.

Referring to FIG. 3 , antenna 301 is able to receive and transmitnetwork traffic, or otherwise communicate, with two networks. A firstnetwork includes virtualized hub/eNB 310 and communication occurs viaconstellation A 311 using beam 312, while a second network includesvirtualized hub/eNB 320 and communication occurs via constellation B 321using beam 322. Virtualized hub/eNB 310 and 320 send and receive thenetwork traffic of antenna 301 with service gateway 350. In someembodiments, these communication paths provide network access (e.g.,Internet access) to a computing system employing antenna 301. In someembodiments, antenna 301 is a single electronically steered flat-panelantenna capable of generating a plurality of beams for satellitecommunication links. Note that the techniques disclosed herein are notlimited to having an antenna only communicate with two networks; inalternative embodiments, antenna 301 is able to generate distinct beamsfor communication with more than two satellites.

In some embodiments, antenna 301 is part of a satellite terminal thatincludes an antenna controller/modem 302. In some embodiments,controller 302 includes soft modems for use in communications with hub310 via satellite 311 using beam 312 and communications with hub 320 viasatellite 321 using beam 322, respectively. In some embodiments, in acoordinated case, a fast switching terminal uses hub-side coordinationto schedule windows for data transmission across the available links,with the soft modems working with hubs 310 and 320 to route the traffic.In some embodiments, CoMP controller 360 acts as this coordinator andscheduler, with virtualized hubs 310 and 320 acting as a path forenabling the coordination needed. For example, in some embodiments, eachhub indicates the time slots available to antenna 301 during which itsconstellation is pointing to antenna 301. The modem in conjunction withantenna 301 uses these time slots to send and/or received bursts ofnetwork data with the hub via its constellation.

Controller 302 also includes an edge compute appliance that orchestratesvirtualized network functions. In some embodiments, these are the samefunctions as discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 2 .

In some embodiments, the multi-beam technology is used in a hybridcommunication system in which an antenna of a network terminal performsboth split beam and fast switching for beam generation. For example, insome embodiments, an antenna uses a split beam approach for receivingdata while using fast switching between beams for transmit. In someembodiments, the satellite terminal can apply a split beamimplementation on the downlink (receive) and a beam switchingimplementation on uplink (transmit). This approach is shown in FIG. 7 .

Thus, embodiments are described herein that provide one or more ofspatial diversity, (which increases link robustness especially inmobility scenarios, where LOS may be occluded randomly), application tomobile satellite communication for link reliability, the ability tooperate on independent networks without coordination, the negation of animpact to user data with coordination, and the increase of networkmanagement flexibility for real-time load balancing across differentsatellites.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of some embodiments of a process forcontrolling communication in a satellite communication network havingmultiple constellations and a satellite terminal with a singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating aplurality of beams for communication links with multiple satellites.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the processing begins by processing logicdetermining communication networks in a satellite communication systemthat are available for communication of network traffic exchanged withthe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna (processing block401). In some embodiments, each of the communication networks includesat least one hub and at least one satellite with which the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna is able to communicate. Insuch a case, the single electronically steered flat-panel antennagenerates a beam as part of a link to the satellite to communicate witha hub in the network. In some embodiments, this determination ofavailability is made by network control logic. In one embodiment, thenetwork control logic comprises a CoMP coordinator that coordinates therouting of network traffic. The CoMP coordinator may use one or moreknown methods of traffic determination and routing based on thatdetermination in order to perform the network control.

After determining availability of the networks, processing logic managestwo or more satellite links between the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna and two or more satellites of different networks toroute the network traffic (processing block 402). In some embodiments,this is performed by network control logic. In some embodiments, themanagement of the satellite links includes determining when to use eachof the satellite links, which are each generated using a beam from thesingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna.

In some embodiments, the multi-beam approach described in FIG. 4 isimplemented with beam splitting. In such a case, the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna generate the two or more beamssimultaneously and maintains the two or more links for communicationbetween the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and two ormore different satellites at the same time. In some embodiments, theantenna communicates the network traffic with a first satellite usingone of the concurrently generated beams while keeping a networkconnection to a second satellite alive with another beam. If a LOSblockage or other outage occurs with respect to the first satellite, thenetwork traffic can be routed over the second satellite using the secondbeam for which a connection already exists. This may be performedwithout the user of the flat-panel antenna knowing that a switch betweenthe two satellites has occurred.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of some embodiments of a process forcommunicating network traffic between a single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna and multiple networks. In some embodiments, thisprocess used to implement managing two or more satellite links betweenthe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or moresatellites of different networks to route the network traffic using beamsplitting.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the process begins generating a first beam with asingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna (processing block 501)and routing network traffic between the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna and the first hub via a first link between the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and a first satellite usingthe first beam (processing block 502).

While this is occurring, the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna maintains a network connection to a second hub via a second linkbetween the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and asecond satellite by generating a second beam with the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna simultaneously whilegenerating the first beam (processing block 503). The second hub isdifferent than the first hub and the second beam is different than thefirst beam.

In some embodiments, a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge routerassociated with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna anda software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller work together tomaintain a network connection on secondary networks for protected failover during LOS blockages or other outages (e.g., the primary link isoverly congested or becomes unstable due to interference or low SNR(like in a high scan scenario)). As discussed above, in someembodiments, the network control includes an MWAN edge router of userterminal to divide outgoing traffic according to the business rules thathave been set while a SDWAN controller does the same with respect to theuser terminal's incoming traffic, and each routes the outgoing trafficin their ends of the link (and combine the incoming traffic backtogether) according to business rules. In this scenario, each would berouting the user traffic over the primary link but would be sending aperiodic burst over the secondary link to keep that connection alive.

In some embodiments, when generating the multiple beams, processinglogic places weights on each beam (processing block 504). In someembodiments, the weighting of each of the beams is based on one or morenetwork functions. In some embodiments, weighting each of the two ormore beams based on one or more network functions comprises weighting aprimary beam more strongly to increase spectral efficiency whilereducing weighting on one or more secondary beams to a level sufficientonly to sustain a connection to a secondary satellite network. In someembodiments, weighting each of the beams based on one or more networkfunctions comprises weighting beams based on throughput performance orreduced cost of data transfer.

The process then continues with determining to route the network trafficthrough the second hub in response to determining network traffic needsto be routed using another network (e.g., a disruption condition existswith respect to the first link) (processing block 505). In someembodiments, this determination is made by network control logic. Insome embodiments, the disruption condition relates to a line-of-sight(LOS) disruption or another outage condition related to the first link.The LOS disruption or other outage condition may be predicted to occurin the future, known to occur in the future or has already occurred.

In response to determining the disruption condition exists, the processroutes the network traffic with the second hub via the second linkbetween the antenna and the second satellite using the second beam(processing block 506). In some embodiments, the routing occurs underthe control of an MWAN edge router and/or virtualized network functionson an edge compute appliance, with a control plane providing control ofwhich traffic path to use and the data plane handling the actual flow ofthe data.

In some embodiments, the multi-beam approach described in FIG. 4 isimplemented with fast switching. In such a case, in some embodiments,the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna generates only onebeam at a time and this beam is used exchange traffic with a first hubvia a link to a first satellite. If a LOS blockage or other outageoccurs with respect to the first satellite, the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna generates only one beam for a satellite linkto a second, different satellite for communication with a second hub.Then the network traffic can be routed over the second satellite usingthe second beam for which a connection already exists. This may beperformed without the user of the flat-panel antenna knowing that aswitch between the two satellites has occurred.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of some embodiments of a process forcommunicating network traffic between a single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna and multiple networks. In some embodiments, thisprocess used to implement managing two or more satellite links betweenthe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or moresatellites of different networks to route the network traffic using onlyone beam at a time and switching between beams, and thus satellites.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the process begins by generating a first beam witha single electronically steered flat-panel antenna (processing block601) and routing network traffic between the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna and the first hub of a first network via afirst link between the single electronically steered flat-panel antennaand a first satellite using the first beam (processing block 602).

While routing the network traffic using the first satellite, the processdetermines that network traffic needs to be routed using another network(processing block 603). In some embodiments, this may occur because adisruption condition exists with respect to the first link. In someembodiments, this determination is made by network control logic in thesame manner as described above. In some embodiments, the disruptioncondition relates to a line-of-sight (LOS) disruption or another outagecondition related to the first link. The LOS disruption or other outagecondition may be predicted to occur in the future, known to occur in thefuture or has already occurred.

In response to determining the disruption condition exits, the processswitches from using the first beam to using a second beam by stoppinggeneration of the first beam and generating a second a second beam forsecond link for communication with a second network with the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna (processing block 604).Thereafter, the process routes the network traffic with a second hub ofthe second network via the second link between the antenna and thesecond satellite using the second beam (processing block 605). In someembodiments, this occurs in the same manner as described in FIG. 5 usingthe control and data planes with an MWAN edge router and/or virtualizednetwork functions on an edge compute appliance.

In some embodiments, the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna is part of a satellite terminal having an edge compute applianceand a soft modem, and further comprising directing, by the edge computeappliance, the soft modem to switch between the two or more links tocommunicate the network traffic between the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna and the two or more different satellites. Insome embodiments, the edge compute appliance directs the soft modem toswitch between the two or more links to improve quality of service (QOS)and/or one or more network efficiency goals.

Note that the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna mayswitch back to using the first beam or a beam other than the second beamto route the network traffic using multi-beams and multiple satellitesof different networks. In this way, the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna toggles between use of two or more beams generated bythe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna for two or moresatellite links.

There are a number of example embodiments described herein.

Example 1 is a method for controlling communication in a satellitecommunication network having multiple constellations and a satelliteterminal with a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capableof generating a plurality of beams for communication links with multiplesatellites, where the method comprises: determining, under networkcontrol, availability of a plurality of networks by which networktraffic may be exchanged with the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna; and managing, under network control, two or moresatellite links between the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna and two or more satellites of different networks to route thenetwork traffic, including determining when to use each of the two ormore satellite links, the two or more satellite links being generatedusing two or more beams from the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna.

Example 2 is the method of example 1 that may optionally includegenerating the two or more beams simultaneously by beam splitting tomaintain the two or more links for communication between the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or more differentsatellites at the same time.

Example 3 is the method of example 2 that may optionally include:generating a first beam with a single electronically steered flat-panelantenna; routing network traffic with the first hub via a first linkbetween the antenna and a first satellite using the first beam;maintaining a network connection to a second hub via a second linkbetween the antenna and a second satellite by generating a second beamwith the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna simultaneouslywhile generating the first beam, the second hub being different than thefirst hub and the second beam being different than the first beam;determining, by the network control, to route the network trafficthrough the second hub in response to determining a disruption conditionexists with respect to the first link; and routing the network trafficwith the second hub via the second link between the antenna and thesecond satellite using the second beam.

Example 4 is the method of example 3 that may optionally include thatthe disruption condition relates to a line-of-sight (LOS) disruption oranother outage condition related to the first link.

Example 5 is the method of example 2 that may optionally includeweighting each of the two or more beams based on one or more networkfunctions.

Example 6 is the method of example 5 that may optionally include thatweighting each of the two or more beams based on one or more networkfunctions comprises weighting a primary beam more strongly to increasespectral efficiency while reducing weighting on one or more secondarybeams to a level sufficient only to sustain a connection to a secondarysatellite network.

Example 7 is the method of example 5 that may optionally include thatweighting each of the two or more beams based on one or more networkfunctions comprises weighting beams based on throughput performance or areduced cost of data transfer.

Example 8 is the method of example 2 that may optionally include that amulti-wide area network (MWAN) edge router associated with the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and a software-defined widearea network (SDWAN) controller work together to maintain a networkconnection on secondary networks for protected fail over during LOSblockages or other outages.

Example 9 is the method of example 1 that may optionally include thatthe two or more beams are generated one at a time, and wherein managingthe two or more satellite links comprises switching between the two ormore links to communicate the network traffic between the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and the two or more differentsatellites while toggling between use of two or more beams generated bythe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna for the two or moresatellite links.

Example 10 is the method of example 9 that may optionally include thatthe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna is part of asatellite terminal having an edge compute appliance and asoftware-defined modem, and further comprising directing, by the edgecompute appliance, the software-defined modem to switch between the twoor more links to communicate the network traffic between the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and the two or more differentsatellites.

Example 11 is the method of example 10 that may optionally include thatthe edge compute appliance directs the software-defined modem to switchbetween the two or more links to improve quality of service (QOS) and/orone or more network efficiency goals.

Example 12 is a satellite communication network topology comprising: asingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating aplurality of beams; a first network comprising a first hub and a firstsatellite; a second network comprising a second hub and a secondsatellite; and network control to determine availability of a first andsecond networks for exchanging network traffic with the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna; and manage first and secondsatellite links between the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna and the first and second satellites, respectively, to route thenetwork traffic, wherein the network control is configured to determinewhen to use the first and second satellite links to first and secondsatellites, respectively, the first and second satellite links beinggenerated using first and second beams of the plurality of beams fromthe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna.

Example 13 is the satellite communication network topology of example 12that may optionally include that the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is operable to generate the first and second beamssimultaneously by beam splitting to maintain the first and second linksfor communication between the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna and first and second satellites at the same time.

Example 14 is the satellite communication network topology of example 13that may optionally include that the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is operable to: generate the first beam; routenetwork traffic with the first hub via the first link between theantenna and the first satellite using the first beam; maintain a networkconnection to the second hub via the second link between the antenna andthe second satellite by generating the second beam simultaneously whilegenerating the first beam, the second hub being different than the firsthub and the second beam being different than the first beam, wherein thenetwork control is operable to determine to route the network trafficthrough the second hub in response to determining a disruption conditionexist with respect to the first link and causes routing of the networktraffic with the second hub via the second link between the antenna andthe second satellite using the second beam.

Example 15 is the satellite communication network topology of example 14that may optionally include that the disruption condition relates to aline-of-sight (LOS) disruption or another outage condition related tothe first link.

Example 16 is the satellite communication network topology of example 13that may optionally include that the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is operable to weight the first and second beamsbased on one or more network functions.

Example 17 is the satellite communication network topology of example 16that may optionally include that the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is operable to weight the first and second beams byweighting the first beam more strongly to increase spectral efficiencywhile reducing weighting on the second beams to a level only sufficientto sustain a connection to the second satellite.

Example 18 is the satellite communication network topology of example 13that may optionally include a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge routerassociated with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna;and a software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller, the MWANedge router and the SDWAN controller working together to maintain anetwork connection on second network for protected fail over during LOSblockages or other outages on the first network.

Example 19 is the satellite communication network topology of example 12that may optionally include that the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is operable to generate the first and second beamsone at a time, and wherein the network control manages the first andsecond satellite links by switching between the first and second linksto communicate the network traffic between the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna and the first and second satellites while thesingle electronically steered flat-panel antenna toggles between use offirst and second beams for the first and second satellite links.

Example 20 is the satellite communication network topology of example 19that may optionally include that the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is part of a satellite terminal having an edgecompute appliance and a software defined modem, and further wherein theedge compute appliance is operable to direct the software defined modemto switch between the first and second links to communicate the networktraffic between the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna andthe first and second satellites.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions above are presented in termsof algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bitswithin a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desiredresult. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physicalquantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take theform of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

The present invention also relates to apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored inthe computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computerreadable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type ofdisk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, andmagnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupledto a computer system bus.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purposesystems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specializedapparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structurefor a variety of these systems will appear from the description below.In addition, the present invention is not described with reference toany particular programming language. It will be appreciated that avariety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachingsof the invention as described herein.

A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read onlymemory (“ROM”); random access memory (“RAM”); magnetic disk storagemedia; optical storage media; flash memory devices; etc.

Whereas many alterations and modifications of the present invention willno doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art afterhaving read the foregoing description, it is to be understood that anyparticular embodiment shown and described by way of illustration is inno way intended to be considered limiting. Therefore, references todetails of various embodiments are not intended to limit the scope ofthe claims which in themselves recite only those features regarded asessential to the invention.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A satellite communication network topologycomprising: a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capableof generating a plurality of beams; a first network comprising a firstvirtualized hub and a first satellite; a second network comprising asecond virtualized hub and a second satellite; network control to managefirst and second satellite links between the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna and the first and second satellites,respectively, to route the network traffic, wherein the network controlis configured to determine when to use the first and second satellitelinks to first and second satellites, respectively, the first and secondsatellite links being generated using first and second beams of theplurality of beams from the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna; and a Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicablycoupled to the first and second virtualized hubs to coordinate routingof network traffic between the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna and the first and second satellites.
 22. The satellitecommunication network topology of claim 21 further comprising a userterminal including a plurality of soft modems and the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna, and wherein the COMP isconfigured to schedule windows for data transmission across the firstand second satellite links.
 23. The satellite communication networktopology of claim 22 wherein each of the first and second virtualizedhubs indicates time slots available to the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna during which its constellation is point to the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna, and the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna uses the time slots at least send or at leastreceive network data with the first and second virtualized hubs andtheir respective constellation.
 24. The satellite communication networktopology of claim 21 wherein the CoMP coordinator is configured toperform load balancing with respect to the first and second satellitelinks to first and second satellites.
 25. The satellite communicationnetwork topology of claim 24 wherein the CoMP coordinator is configuredto load balance between the first and second satellite links duringfailovers.
 26. The satellite communication network topology of claim 21further comprising a software-defined wide area network (SDWAN)controller, and wherein the network control includes a multi-wide areanetwork (MWAN) edge router associated with the single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna, and the MWAN edge router and SDWANcontroller are configured to route traffic over each of the first andsecond satellite links according to one or more business rules.
 27. Thesatellite communication network topology of claim 26 wherein the MWANedge router is part of a user terminal that includes the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna.
 28. The satellitecommunication network topology of claim 27 wherein, according to the oneor more business rules, the MWAN edge router is configured to divideoutgoing traffic from the user terminal among the first and secondsatellite links and the SDWAN controller is configured to divideincoming traffic for the user terminal among the first and secondsatellite links.
 29. A satellite communication network topologycomprising: a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capableof generating a plurality of beams; a first network comprising a firsthub and a first satellite; a second network comprising a second hub anda second satellite; network control to manage first and second satellitelinks between the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna andthe first and second satellites, respectively, to route the networktraffic, wherein the network control is configured to determine when touse the first and second satellite links to first and second satellites,respectively, the first and second satellite links being generated usingfirst and second beams of the plurality of beams from the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna, wherein the network controlincludes a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge router associated withthe single electronically steered flat-panel antenna; and asoftware-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller, wherein the MWANedge router and SDWAN controller are configured to route traffic overeach of the first and second satellite links according to one or morebusiness rules.
 30. The satellite communication network topology ofclaim 29 wherein the MWAN edge router is part of a user terminal thatincludes the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna.
 31. Thesatellite communication network topology of claim 30 wherein, accordingto the one or more business rules, the MWAN edge router is configured todivide outgoing traffic from the user terminal among the first andsecond satellite links and the SDWAN controller is configured to divideincoming traffic for the user terminal among the first and secondsatellite links.
 32. The satellite communication network topology ofclaim 31 wherein, according to the one or more business rules, the MWANedge router is configured to combine traffic being received by the userterminal from the first and second satellite links and the SDWANcontroller is configured to combine traffic from the user terminal amongthe first and second satellite links that is being sent to Internet. 33.The satellite communication network topology of claim 29 wherein theMWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller working together to maintain anetwork connection on one or more secondary networks for protected failover during an outage on a first network
 34. The satellite communicationnetwork topology of claim 33 wherein the outage includes a line-of-sight(LOS) blockage on the first network.
 35. The satellite communicationnetwork topology of claim 29 wherein the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna is operable to generate the first and second beamssimultaneously by beam splitting to maintain the first and second linksfor communication between the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna and first and second satellites at the same time.
 36. Thesatellite communication network topology of claim 29 wherein the networkcontrol determines availability of a first and second networks forexchanging network traffic with the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna.
 37. A method for controlling communication in asatellite communication network having multiple constellations and asatellite terminal with a single electronically steered flat-panelantenna capable of generating a plurality of beams for communicationlinks with multiple satellites, the method comprising: determining,under network control, availability of a plurality of networks by whichnetwork traffic may be exchanged with the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna; and managing, under network control, two or moresatellite links between the single electronically steered flat-panelantenna and two or more satellites of different networks to route thenetwork traffic, including determining when to use each of the two ormore satellite links, the two or more satellite links being generatedusing two or more beams from the single electronically steeredflat-panel antenna, wherein using two or more beams comprises generatingthe two or more beams simultaneously by performing beam splitting tomaintain the two or more links for communication between the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or more differentsatellites at the same time, and performing fast switching by the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna by repointing the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna from one of the two or moredifferent satellites to another of the two or more different satelliteswhen data is available.
 38. The method of claim 37 wherein the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna performs beam splitting aspart of receive operations when receiving data via the two or moresatellite links.
 39. The method of claim 38 wherein the singleelectronically steered flat-panel antenna performs fast switching aspart of transmit operations when transmitting data via the two or moresatellite links.
 40. The method of claim 37 further comprising, whenbeam splitting: generating a first beam with a single electronicallysteered flat-panel antenna; routing network traffic with the first hubvia a first link between the antenna and a first satellite using thefirst beam; maintaining a network connection to a second hub via asecond link between the antenna and a second satellite by generating asecond beam with the single electronically steered flat-panel antennasimultaneously while generating the first beam, the second hub beingdifferent than the first hub and the second beam being different thanthe first beam; determining, by the network control, to route thenetwork traffic through the second hub in response to determining adisruption condition exists with respect to the first link; and routingthe network traffic with the second hub via the second link between theantenna and the second satellite using the second beam.
 41. The methodof claim 40 wherein the disruption condition relates to a line-of-sight(LOS) disruption or another outage condition related to the first link.42. The method of claim 40 further comprising weighting each of the twoor more beams based on one or more network functions.